Restoration (Nehemiah 7 and 8)

Somebody has observed that Nehemiah chapters 1-6 focus on the rebuilding of the wall and chapters 7-13 describe the rebuilding of the people. After all, what would have been the benefit of a great wall if no change had taken place in the people living behind it? 

Nehemiah realised a very simple and obvious fact about Jerusalem which was that it must have a city life. He was aware of different kinds of city life, having served the emperor of Persia in Susa and elsewhere. But at the time recorded in this section of his book he was concerned about what would go on in the city of Jerusalem and what would be its vibes as a community. He knew that building the wall round the city was a means to an end. It gave security for whatever would take place within it. But there is more to a city than security.

Nehemiah was also concerned for the spirituality of the city. That detail is described in 7:1 in the reference to gatekeepers, singers and Levites. Later in the chapter, we are told that there were 138 gatekeepers, 148 singers, and 74 Levites (vv. 43-45). We see from elsewhere in his book that the gatekeepers were responsible for guarding the city by preventing unwelcome people from entering, the singers were the leaders of the praise in the temple, and the Levites had the task of explaining God’s Word to the people.

The combination of security and spirituality is seen in verse 2. Nehemiah realised that appropriate people should be placed in charge of the defence of the city. He appointed two men for this role. One was his brother Hanani, who is also mentioned in chapter 1 as having a great concern for the state into which the city had descended. The other was Hananiah, the commander of the fortress. No doubt he was a good military leader, but it is other personal qualities that are stressed here. He was known as a faithful and Godfearing man. Such a person will have the right motives because he will focus on serving God.

These two activities by Nehemiah were an example of how he as a leader realised that he could not do everything. But he was prepared to use the gifts of others whether in the security or the spirituality of the city. Of course, he knew that God was their real defence, but he also knew that God often uses means to accomplish his purpose. And he also knew that those who were gifted by God for spiritual activities should be allowed to use their gifts.

Nehemiah spelled out his security strategy in verse 3. From one viewpoint, the commands he gave seem a bit odd initially. The gates were not to be opened at dawn but when the sun was hot (probably people did not like a battle at such times, so invasion and attack would be unlikely to occur at noon). Even when opening times were possible, the gates were not to be open all the time, when people were not coming in. And when the gates were closed, the guards were still to be in place. Obviously, Nehemiah took seriously the possibility that undesirable people would get in and undermine the city life that he was trying to establish, and that it was most likely that they would try and sneak in during daylight hours. Nehemiah does not say how many guards there should be on duty, but we are told that there should be enough to man the city gates and their homes.

A fourth detail is mentioned in verse 4, and that is the size of the city. Whatever else could be said about its past, there was plenty scope for the future. The past was marked by a history of failures, resulting in few people living in the city, and their appetite for rebuilding had disappeared. Now that they had a wall, maybe an interest could be stimulated to do something about the lack of city life.

The citizens

The obvious people who can do something about a defunct capital city are the inhabitants who live in other towns and communities of that country and who would be willing to move to the capital. So we can see that Nehemiah determined to find out who they could be. He does not trace this innovative idea to himself, but he gives all the credit to God (v. 5). Evidently, he was open internally to be guided by the Lord in his mind and heart.

Nevertheless it was important that those who would live in the city had a right to live in the city (7:61-65). Fortunately for those whose claim was uncertain, including some priests, there was a way at that time of finding out by using the Urim and Thummim. They were a means provided by God of ensuring precise information about a person or an action.  When it comes to the city of God today, that is the heavenly Zion, the best way to identify citizenship is by what people think of the gospel, of how it affects their hearts and lives.

Most of the people lived in various towns in Judah, but through Nehemiah’s influence one tenth of them later came to live in Jerusalem. ‘Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem. And the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem the holy city, while nine out of ten remained in the other towns. And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem’ (Neh. 11:1-2). We can see from 7:66 that there were about 50,000 living in the towns, so that means about five thousand later volunteered to live in Jerusalem. But here in chapter 7, Nehemiah tells us where some of them lived, who some were connected to, and he also mentions what some of them gave to the work of the Lord.

But utilising the scope of the city had to wait until practices required by God had been reintroduced. Those practices were connected to an annual feast that took place in the seven month – the feast of tabernacles. And it should have been an important part of the city life of Jerusalem.

The Feast of Trumpets

A description is given of a service that was held on the first day of the month called Tishri. According to the civil calendar of Israel it was the beginning of the year (there were two calendars in use in Israel, a religious and a civil calendar; in the religious year, this month was the seventh). It was also the date on which a day-long feast took place, the Feast of Trumpets.

We could call the service a New Year’s Day service. The people were present from early morning until midday with an obvious hunger in their hearts for God’s Word. It is also noticeable that they were there before God as families, with children old enough to understand present as well. Ezra read from the Books of Moses and some of the Levites helped the people to understand what the readings meant.

Ezra had led a second group of Jews back to their homeland prior to Nehemiah. The first had been led by Zerubbabel eighty years previously and the second had been led by Ezra fourteen years before Nehemiah came. We do not know where Ezra was during the building of the wall. He may have been in Jerusalem, or he may have been away from the city. As we can see he was there when this service took place. There had been some encouraging growth in spiritual interest, which we can read about in the Book of Ezra, but more was required.

Was it surprising when the people, after they understood what had been written in the Law of God, began to weep? Why did they do so? They probably wept because they were repenting over their failure to practise what it said, even after they had returned from the exile in Babylon and had made some attempts at recovery. Their response is a reminder that there should be an emotional reaction to the Word of God because it is a living Word that addresses those who are listening to it.

Yet we can see that there is a sense in which their penitent response was a danger. The danger was that it could last too long and prevent other appropriate responses from being given by the Jews. Holiness includes an awareness of sin and repenting of it, but it also has other important aspects, and one of them is stressed here. In addition to confessing their sin, Nehemiah and Ezra reminded them of the joyful aspects of their faith (vv. 9ff.).

Why should they be joyful in their city life? The main reason, and the one from which all other reasons come, is the joy of the Lord. As Psalm 126:3, probably connected to one of the returns from Babylon, says, ‘The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.’ After all, the joy was his provision, and he wanted the inhabitants of his city to experience his bountiful supply. We should note that the joy was sufficient for all of them and that is not surprising because he is infinite. We can also see that it was suitable for all of them even although they all recognised their sinfulness in having failed to obey his instructions. And we can see that this joy strengthened them because it dealt with the cause of their weakness, which was that they had offended the Lord. But they were reminded that because they repented of their sin he was pleased with them and they were encouraged to share his joy, joy like that of the father of the prodigal son.

In what way could they express this joy? The answer given in the account is by having fellowship with one another, ensuring at the same time that no one was left out of the feasting that was provided gladly. Together they would greatly enjoy the presence of the God who had restored them to the city and revealed his grace to them. Fellowship was one of the outcomes of the blessing of conversions that took place in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:42-47), and it has often evidence that spiritual vitality is increasing in a congregation.

The Feast of Tabernacles

On the next day, the leaders of the Jewish community came together to study the Word of God under the guidance of Ezra. They discovered that they should celebrate another feast in that same month and that several instructions were given regarding how they should do so, such as living in temporary booths for a week. The dates of keeping it were also given – it was to begin on the fifteenth day of the month, which meant that they had a fortnight in which to prepare for it. When they put God’s instructions into practice, they had very great rejoicing. It was like a conference where they listened to the Word of God every day for a week.

There was something remarkable about this occasion, which was that the feast of tabernacles, although commanded by the Lord after the Exodus, had not been celebrated in Israel in this way since the days of Joshua, which was many centuries in the past. The feast was held in Jerusalem in Solomon’s time, but they did not follow all the instructions carefully. And the same kind of response was made in the days of Zerubbabel when the first group returned from Babylon, but they could not do it near the temple because it had not yet been rebuilt. On those previous occasions, the response had been partial, but now it was done fully according to God’s will.

Lessons

One clear lesson that we can take from this passage is the importance of the Word of God. Three details are given about it: it has to be read, it has to be searched or studied, and it has to be obeyed. The last cannot be done without the previous, and the first and second are pointless without the third. When they are engaged in, there will be great joy. There is a direct connection between the proper use of the Word of God and the degree of spiritual joy that we will know.

A second lesson is to be careful about the past. It is astonishing to think that the children of Israel had failed to keep fully the divine instruction about the feast of tabernacles for over eight hundred years. In order to have a right recovery of the practice the Jews had to go back to the Scriptures and do what everyone in that long period had failed to do, which was to do it in the way that God had stated.

A third lesson is carefulness about city membership or church membership. It is not possible to keep out all false disciples, and one is frequently surprised to hear that someone has abandoned the faith after being a professing Christian for many years. Nevertheless, in our churches we need to have suitable evidences of new life before we allow people into membership. Nehemiah wanted a holy city, and we should want holy congregations.

A fourth lesson is that the scope of church life remains very big even if at the moment we are small numerically. God can increase the numbers of people identifying with his church and he is able to bring great spiritual blessings to us through the gospel.